Protective shield for windows.



No. 881,455. PATENTED MAR. 10, 1908.

A. BENNBRSGHBIDT. PROTECTIVE SHIELD FOR WINDOWS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 28, 1907 AUGUST BENNERSICHEIDT, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

rnorncrrvn srminn iron wmnows.

Specification of Letters Yatent.

Patented March 10, mos.

. Application filed March 28, 1907. s mi No. 365,191. 1

- Tovall whom itconeem:-

season, a citizenjof-the United States, re-

at San Francisco, in the county of an 1' following is a.- specification.

This mventfion 'grelates. to an improved.

protecting 'shi" d forwindow's, the object of the invention being to provide a shield which will afford dprotection against fire, and can also be use as a snow or storm shield when deslred which will be simple inconstruction and permit of beingloperatedby hand rap-" idly and as often asdesired, and-will also act automatically in case of great heat produced Inthe accoupanying' drawing, Figure 1 is a broken o u ,t si e view of the w1ndow, showlng the shield lowered; 2 is a vertical transverse section; Fig.3 1s a sidev-iew part being in section; Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail vertical section of the shield box showing the shield sections therein; Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of a side; of' the. window frame, equipped with my improvement; Fig-j 6is an enla ed vertical section showing two of the shiel sections held in their raised position; Fig. 7 is an enlarged side view of the winding drum and the clutch mechanism thereof, certain parts bein shown insection; Fig. 8 is an' enlargeddetai sectionalview showing the en aged portions oftwo of the shields.

eferring to the drawing, 1 indicates thewindow sill which is made of sheet metal, and

is of the usual form, and secured to said sill are the inner, sides 2 of the window frame, each side being formed of a iece of sheet metal, the. rear portion 3 of W 'ch faces the interior of the buildin having ashort flange 4 at its outer ed e, an at the inner side being bent substantia yatright angles to form the side guide 5 for the upper sash, and be bent at right angles an then doubled bac upon itself, to form the inner wall. 6' of the,

shield fi'uideway, then bent at right an les to formt e again at right angles to form the outer wall :8 0 said i eway, the edge thereof being then double back inward upon itselfto form a smooth edge 9 for said outer wall. The

aneisco and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements Protective Shields for Windows, of which the L to, or parallel with the Window;

' li hie side 7 of said guideway, and t en in Y sonr'y 10=of the building, thus preventing their being bent out of shape by any passing object. 14 indicates the other WfillfOfiirhfi frame. :Each side guideway for theshield sections, hereinafter described, tapersin tw'o directions, downward, both from, front to rear, and infa direction at right angles there! In said guideway slide'the, ends of the shieldsections 11,-of which there maybe any suitable num ber, according} to the size of, the window. Each shield section tapers downward in width-and, moreover, the sections successivelydecrease in width. downward, so that, whenextended, asin the osition shown in Fig. 1, they forma shield continuously diminishing in width downward, corresponding to the lateral taper downward of the guide.

ways. i

be object of forming the guideways with a taper from front to rearis toinsure that rectangular box 12, attached" to the top fmember13 offthe window frame, the inner side; of said box be ng cut out to form flanges 15 upon which trave rollers 16, mounted in the inner wall of a channel iron 17 ,seeur'ed to the top ofthesuppermost shield section 18'.

Said uppermost shield section 18 is bent back at the bottom ed e upon itself to form 19 spaced from 51c main bod of the to form a groove, and each of t e intermediage sections is in like manner bent back on itseii at the-u er and lower edges to form similar lips, said bottom. The upper lipof each- SGGtlOlliS adapted toenter the roove formedv at the bottom of the section a ove it, and the lower the shield section ll it is as shown a't- 50, and then outwards again to its edge, so'that the edge of each lip flares outward so as to lie in close proximity with the. surface of the next adjacent section 11.

The efi'ectof this construction is that as the.

shield sections are moved past each other, it is impossible for any lip to escape engageips bein bent away from Y the section on opposite si as at the top and ach of these I v sheet metal guideways are set in the ma.- Be'it known. that 1:, Answer Bnivnnn- I ent outwards, then inwards aga1n-toward said shield section 11 ment with the lip of the adjacent shiel section as it passes it, since the ed e of each lip lies in close proximity to the ad jacent shield section. At the same time, on account of the lip not being in a plane surface, but in an ogeesurface, said lips, when they engage each other, fit snugly against one another and also against the adjacent shield sections, making a tight fit of'the edges of the 'two sections, as. clearly shown in Fig. 8. This construction, therefore,serves two pu oses; it absolutely prevents said sections failin to engageeach other as' they pass, an

when the sections are in their extended position it prevents lateral movement of one se'ctionrelatively'to the other, and conseuent rattling. The lowermost section is ormedwith' such lip and groove only atthe upper edge, andto the lower edge is attached a right angled bottom piece 20. To the front vertical side of said bottom piece is secured a small late 21 to whichis hinged a hook 22, and this hook is adapted to engage any one of a series of holes 23-, each formed inone of the's'ections, adjacent to the lower edge thereof at the center. lowermost section and causing the hook to enga c any desired hole 23, any number-of the sliield sections can be maintained in an elevated-position to permit a fireman or otherpersonto inspect the interior of the building, and then by removin "the hook,

the shield sections will immedlately drop again to theposition in which they protect the window opening.

The shield sections are maintained in. their collapsed or raised position in the shield box by means of'a chain--24, which is attached at itslower end, by'rneans of a small piece of fusible metal 25, to the plate 21 on the lowermost 'section,said chain passing first over a pulley 26 secured in the top of the shield box,

then under a ulley 27 secured on the top. of

the window 5 ame, adjacent to said shield box, then over a pulle 28- similarly secured,

and then down throug the hollow side of the window frame and around a drum 29 attached'to a shaft 31. the shield'sections is arranged toextend sufficiently far away from the inner Wall of the windowv frame to prevent interference with the movementbf a sash weight 30 for balan'cing one of the window sashes. Theishaft 31 is'slidabl mounted at one endina post 32, and at the other end in a bearing 33, secured upon the interior face of the window frame, said bearing having a ratchet tooth 35, adapted .to engage a similar tooth 34' on a collar 36 formed or securedon the shaft 31. When it is desired to drop the fire shield, this can be done from the interior of the room by applying a knife blade, or other sharpinstru from said bearing), moving saidshaft lon itudinally in its caring, and releasing t e By raising the The chain for raising teeth 34, 3 5, from'enga ement with each other. Thereupon said s ield sections immediately fall by'thein own weight. Thus in case of fire, any/person in the interior of the buildin can immediately drop the. protecting shie dlwithout waitin for the fusible metal to melt. The shiel sections canagain,be raised by turning the shaft 31, and,

when they have been fully raised into the the window will now be seen, forit is by reason of this taper that it is possible to raise the shield sections by means of .a single chain attached at the center to the lowermost section Without any danger of said sections binding in the vertical guideways. If the guideways did not have such taper, then any slight deviation from-acentral vertical line, of the pull on the lowermost section, or of the impulse given to an. upper section by a lower section when lifted thereby, might'cause the sides of'sairb sections to bind on the guideways, which would prevent the 'raisingjof the shield, but by making these guideways laterally tapering this possibility is avoided. Also by reason of the fact that the guideways taper laterally the result is obtained that, as each section drops, it is arrested in its proper position by reason of its converging edges coming into contact with the laterall converging walls of the guideways. It wi also be seen why said guideways are made tapering from front to rear, for, as the Shield sections drop into their positions, one below the other, they are in turn moved forward, or outward by the rear walls of the guideways; so that it is insured that the lip and groove at the up er edge of each section engage the groove an lip at the lower edge of the section immediately above it, and it is not possible for two such adjacent sections 11 order to obtain access to the shield sections and to the operative mechanism thereof, there is ro-vided a door 40 over the inside of the win ow. I claim:-

-1. In aprotective shield for windows, the

rear and also laterally or parallel with the window, substantially as described.

2. In a protective shield for windows, the combination of a series of shield sections, a chain for raising and lowering said sections, and a piece of fusible metal on the lowermost section to which the end of said chain is attached, substantially as described.

3. Ina protective shield for windows, the

combination of a series of shield sections, a hook carried at the lower edge of the lowermost section, an upper sectionhaving a part near the lower edge thereof ada ted to be engaged by said hook to hold sai sections in a partly collapsed position, substantially as groove, each lip being of an ogee form, and

' extending inwardly and. towards the shield section and then outwardly from saidfsec tion to itsouter' edge, substantially as described.

5. In a protective shield for windows, the combination of a series of shield sections; each having its upper andlower ed es bent in opposite directions, away from t e main body of the sections, to form a lip and groove, and guide-ways in which the vertical edges of said sections move, said guideways taperin downward from front to rear to cause t e lips and grooves of the different sections to engage each other, substantially as described.

6, In a protective shield for windows, the combination of a series of shield sections continuously tapering in width downward and guideways or said sections, the outer walls of said guide ways converging downward in corres ondence with the downward taper of the s 'eld sections to successively arrest said shield sections'in their proper positions as they drop, substantially as described.

7. In a protective shield for windows, the

combination of a series of shield sections continuously. tapering in width downward and guideways or said sections, the outer walls of said guideways converging downward in corres ondence with the downward taper'of the s eld sections to successively arrest said shield sections in their proper positions as they drop, and a chain attached to the middle of the narrowest section, said latter sectionhaving a part adapted to engage the lower edges of all of the sections to successively raise them into its upward movement, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

AUGUST BENNERSOHEIDT.

, W'itnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS. 

